The pain lingers as they stare at life

Several victims have had to shell out heavily for life after the blasts, though the government claims their hospital expenditure has been taken care of

Yadagiri, who lost his eye in the blasts, pays homage to the victims at Dilsukhnagar on Friday. - Photo: G. Ramakrishna

M. Yadagiri cannot decide what is more painful: the bomb blast that maimed him or the past one year during which he could not find a job.

Yadagiri lost an eye in the blast at Dilsukhnagar on February 21 last year. He was waiting for a bus when the bomb went off. Though he was shifted to L.V. Prasad Eye Institute at Banjara Hills, Yadagiri lost his vision, despite a treatment that extended to months.

Regular hospital visits and the money he had to spend on medicines have left him a pauper. Now, he cannot not work in the area of his expertise - centring. Sadly, the authorities have remained unreceptive to his pleas for a job. “I could not find work for the past one year. I dissolved a chit I had saved and lived off the money. I am now supported by my wife who is a labourer at Paragon factory. Despite my repeated visits to the Ranga Reddy Collectorate, the officials just pretended as if it was not their concern,” he told the media at the blast site on Friday.

Financial burden took a heavy toll on several victims, though the government claimed that their hospital expenditure had been taken care of.

“My two brothers and brother-in-law were injured in the blast. One brother, Gopal Reddy, lost his little finger. I incurred huge losses due to the closure of my stall. What the government gave was not enough even for hospital rounds, which my brothers are forced to make even now,” said Pandu Reddy, owner of A-1 Mirch stall, which was badly damaged in the blast.

The site near the stall on Friday witnessed demonstrators lighting candles, holding banners and shouting slogans against terrorism. Some like Sheikh Jani Pasha, an RTC bus conductor, arrived at the spot just to see environs, which had witnessed him feverishly involved in carrying victims to hospitals a year ago.

Incidentally, Pasha was the one who informed police about the blast, and he says that the complaint at the Malakpet Police Station was recorded in his name.

“I shifted 70 people to hospitals, 68 of whom survived. That is the satisfaction I value utmost,” he recalled.